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ADDICTA: THE TURKISH JOURNAL ON ADDICTIONS Copyright © 2019 Turkish Green Crescent Society ISSN 2148-7286 eISSN 2149-1305 http://addicta.com.tr/en/ 2019 6(2) 403‒433 Extended Abstract The Cartoon Characters with the Greatest Influence on Preschool Children and the Digital Dangers They Can Be Exposed to While Identifying with These Characters* Figen Akça1 Nuray Koç Çilekçiler2 Uludağ University Uludağ University Abstract This study examines the cartoons preschool children view the most and the cartoon characters these children want and don’t want to be, as well as the possible digital dangers these children could be exposed to during the identification process. The fırst part of the study is done with 182 children between 4-6 years old studying in various kindergartens and preschools in Bursa province. For the second part of the study, qualitative analysis has been conducted with 20 children selected using typical case sampling. This study uses the hybrid model, which consists of qualitative and quantitative methods. Data for the quantitative part of the study has been obtained through the Survey for Children about Cartoons which created by authors and for the qualitative part of the study through semi-structured interview questions. The validity and reliability studies of the survey were conducted. The opinions of the academicians who are experts in the fields of pre-school and psychological counseling have been consulted for content validity of the survey. The cartoon characters which children choose role models and the reasons why they choose these characters have been examined according to the gender variable. According to the findings, 53% of children watch cartoons such as Pepee, Rafadan Tayfa, Harika Kanatlar, Niloya, Karlar Ülkesi. While girls want to be characters such as Elsa and Bloom, boys want to be characters such as Jett and Spiderman. The qualitative findings show that children mostly consider themes such as physical appearance, supernatural abilities, gender, and the positive and the negative emotional states related to the character while selecting one. Keywords Early childhood • Character identification • Social learning • Cartoons • Role model * This is an extended abstract of the paper entitled “Okul Öncesi Dönemdeki Çocukların En Çok Etkilendiği Çizgi Film Karakterleri ve Bu Karakterlerle Özdeşleşmelerinin Yol Açabileceği Dijital Tehlikeler” published in Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions. Manuscript Received: November 30, 2017 / Accepted: September 22, 2018 / OnlineFirst: April 20, 2019 1 Correspondence to: Figen Akça, Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Faculty of Education, Uludağ University, Nilüfer, Bursa 16059 Turkey. Email: [email protected] 2 Department of Child Development, Yenişehir İbrahim Orhan Vocational School, Uludağ University, Yenişehir, Bursa 16900 Turkey. Email: [email protected] To cite this article: Akça, F., & Koç Çilekçiler, N. (2019). The cartoon characters with the greatest influence on preschool children and the digital dangers they can be exposed to while identifying with these characters. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions, 6, 403−433. http://dx.doi.org/10.15805/addicta.2019.6.2.0053 Akça, Koç Çilekçiler / The Cartoon Characters with the Greatest Influence on Preschool Children and the Digital Dangers... Reports have stated the number of children, adolescents, and adults actively using the Internet to be two billion (Internet World Status, 2011, p. 790, as cited in Giddens & Sutton, 2016). Apparently, we all live in a digital world. Nothing wrong about the point where technology has brought us, but there is a legitimate concern about the threat of digital dangers in children’s future. Answering questions such as “Are digital dangers well-enough known?” and “Are the preventions against digital dangers enough?” are important on this point (Erdoğan & Baran, 2008; Ertürk & Gül, 2006, p. 18). In a study on the most viewed cartoons, Yıldız (2016) found children to witness violence for an average of 4,220 seconds during in 39,495 seconds cartoon-watching session in most preferred 14 cartoons by children. Such as, “Ben 10” is a cartoon with some of the most violent scenes in each episode (Yıldız, 2016). Wilson and Hunter (1983) found an exact similarity between the violent behaviors displayed in 13 films and 13 TV shows with the 58 different violent behaviors observed among children. In a study conducted in a town in the USA, Will (1993) found violent behaviors to have increased 45% among girls and boys two years after being introduced to the TV in 1973. During the same period, the percentage of violent behavior stayed the same in a town that already had TV (p. 368, as cited in Morris, 2002). Lemish and Rice (1986) stated that TV functions as a talking picture book for 12- to 18-month-old infants. On the other hand, lots of studies have shown that children get easily deceived by advertisements and can be bothered by advertising messages (Huston, Watkins, & Kunkel, 1989; Kunkel, 1988). Children’s obesity levels are explained by the time spent watching TV and advertisements’ possible negative effects (Ogle, Graham, Lucas-Thompson, & Roberto, 2017). In recent years, 2- to 12-year-old children have started to spend more time on Youtube alongside TV. They have started becoming consumers of Youtube content. This raises ethical issues about children’s media consumption, especially those between two to seven years old (Çaplı, 1996). Pre-school children’s vulnerability to the attention-grabbing elements of digital media in the digital world is obvious (İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, 2016). This is because they are more susceptible to external influences and their brains are not as developed as older children (Ceci, Ross, & Toglia, 1987, p. 504, as cited in Cohen & Swerdlik, 2013). Ceci, Ross, and Toglia (1987) found younger children between three and four years old to be open to every environmental distractor, and to become less sensitive to information and directives received from adults as they get older. According to Piaget (1989), children three to six years old are egocentric and in a heteronomous (externally dependent) period. During this period, a child encountering the digital world accepts all the external stimuli, maybe even complying with them (as cited in Kaya, 2012). Paik and Comstock (1994) discovered violent scenes on TV 425 ADDICTA: THE TURKISH JOURNAL ON ADDICTIONS to have different impacts on children depending on personality traits. These types of scenes cause children to desensitize to violence, or to exercise the same types of behaviors and attitudes by means of identification. Yetim and Sarıçam (2016) conducted a study where they investigated parents’ content awareness of the cartoons their children regularly watch. Parents stated that their children do not talk to them about the cartoons’ contents. Yayan and Gümüşsoy (2016) examined the imaginary in cartoons and found cartoons to have political, substance-use encouraging, indecent, and violent imageries as well as subliminal economic messages. This study aims to examine if children between four and six years old are susceptible to digital dangers by means of how they identify with their favorite main cartoon characters. In order to do this, we have identified the popular cartoons among this age group during the interviews and the themes touched upon in these cartoons. This study is considered to be informative for educationists and parents about which characters children choose and why children choose them as role models. The data of this study is thought to be a helpful guide for educationists and parents in becoming good media-literate. Method Research Design This study uses the hybrid model, which consists of qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative method has been used for verifying the most viewed cartoons and which characters children want or do not want to be. The qualitative method has been used for determining which emotional states and thoughts lead them in choosing these characters. Sample Four socioeconomically different districts in Turkey’s Bursa province were chosen for collecting the quantitative data. The data have been collected from 182 participating children aged four to six in 10 schools. The qualitative analysis has been conducted with 20 children selected from the 182 children using typical case sampling. The 20 children have been selected according to their answers to the survey about their preferences for characters they want to be. Data Collection The Survey for Children About Cartoon was prepared for the quantitative part of the study to collect data for determining which cartoons are the most viewed and which characters children want to be or not be. The 20 children were asked semi- 426 Akça, Koç Çilekçiler / The Cartoon Characters with the Greatest Influence on Preschool Children and the Digital Dangers... structured interview questions in the qualitative part of the study about why they like or dislike the cartoon characters. The semi-structured interview questions were created with the help of two expert instructors. Data Analysis The quantitative and demographic part of the study has utilized frequency and percentage calculations in the descriptive statistical analysis. The qualitative part of the study conducts content analysis to analyze the data collected from the interviews. Findings The cartoons children in the study group watch most are respectively listed in order as “Pepee” (21), “Rafadan Tayfa” (19), “Super Wings”

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